Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-03-03
AMONG THE COSSACKS,
An Impressive Funeral in the Twilight of .
Glorious Balkan Sunset.

An Impressive Funeral in the Twilight ola
Glorious Balkan Sunset.
Among the numerous superstitions
of the Cossacks there is none stronger
than the belief that they will enter
Heaven in a better state of moral
purity if they are personally clean at
the time they are killed. Consequently
before an expected battle they perform
their toilets with scrupulous care,
dress themselves in clean garments.
and put on the best they have This
superstition is not confined to the Cos
sacks alone, but is widely prevalent in
all branches of the Russian army.
Skobeleff, in common with MANY other
officers. professed similar faith, and
did not fail 10 dress himself for bat
tie as he would for soiree. The Cos
sack sotnias, being often composed of
men who belong to the same commu-
nifty at home, have a harmony of in
terest among the members which ex-
tends further than the ordinary mat
tiers of discipline. Their sick and
wounded are generally more sedulous-
ly cared for than in other corps. and
even in the excitement of active service
they appear to have reverence for
their dead uncommon with soldiers
who are accustomed to the daily spec
tacle of a comrades death. Many a
touching little burial-service have I
witnessed among the Cossacks, but
none more moving than one which I
accidentally saw in the beginning of
winter We had been making rapid
forward movement, and had captured
pass in the Balkans. In the late
afte rnoon, after the engagement was
over. was making my way by short
cut across the hills to point where I
expected to find the headquarters,
when l came upon singular scene.
Near the top of a bare knoll, strongly
relieved against the sunset sky, three
riderless horses came out in sharp
silhoutte. A little to the right of them,
and on the very summit of the knoll,
two Cossacks were STOPPING over, busy
with something, I could not see what
The landscape, desolate, somber and
brown in the near foreground, deep
ened to intense purple in the middle
distance, and beyond and on eitherside
of the knoll, which was the dominant
object in the scene, the Jagged mount
ain-tops sharply cut the wintry sky.
The glory of a rich sunset mystified
the details of the masses, while it
seemed to sharpen their contours and
heighten their contrasts. 1t was one
of those evenings when there steals
into the mind sense of the solemnity
of the hour almost amounting to re-
ligious fervor, and when one contem-
plates the departure of the daylight
with sadness, and scarcely formed
but still vivid realization of the faith
omless mystery of the near future.
AS approached the group the two
men rose to their feet, and, without
looking in my direction, uncovered
their heads and stood motionless. Be-
tween them long low mound dis
turbed the rounded outline of the hill,
and Il rude cross made of an unhewn
tree trunk added its unexpected sill
houtte to the shapes of the men, seen
as irregular masses against the deep
crimson of the western sky. / inyol-
UNFAIRLY. paused. and waited, cap in
hand, until their silent prayer was fin
ished, and they had slowly turned
away toward the three horses;
then, skirting the knoll crowned by the
mound and cross, kept on my way. All
that friendly hands could do to honor
the victim of the days fight had been
religiously done by his two comrades.
In the midst of the turmoil of war he
had been given n decent dignitied,
Christian burial. And what more i'm
pressive funeral could there be than
the one 1 saw IN the glorious Balkan
sunset? The place, the hour, the SIM
pie ceremony, the symbol of Christian
faith. and proof of comrades love-it
was the poetry of Il soldiers burial
Frank d. Nitlet, IN Harper's Maga-
zine.